McMorris Rodgers calls for TikTok ban over ‘immediate threat’ from Chinese Communist Party

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who leads the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said on Sunday that there is an “immediate threat” via TikTok from the Chinese Communist Party as lawmakers look to ban the video-sharing app in the U.S. over data security concerns.

“I would say there’s an immediate threat via TikTok from the Chinese Communist Party. That is the reason that I believe we need to ban TikTok immediately,” McMorris Rodgers said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“It is a national security threat, their access not just to our data, but the way that they have infiltrated it united Republicans and Democrats on the committee as to the urgent need for us to take action.”

TikTok boasts more than more than 150 million U.S. users, but lawmakers are mulling over a potential federal ban due to heightened concerns that the Chinese government could gain access to U.S. user data through the app.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified last week at a congressional hearing, which McMorris Rodgers said cemented her stance that the app should be banned in the U.S.

“What the hearing made clear to me was that TikTok should be banned in the United States of America to address the immediate threat… Mr. Chew said that the data that they are amassing on Americans is accessible by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party],” she said on CNN.

“TikTok cannot be trusted.”

McMorris Rodgers also responded to criticism from many young users of the app that lawmakers are focusing on the social media platform rather than the nationwide threat of gun violence by underscoring her position that TikTok poses a “national security threat.”